Week Two Farm Share News
Hello Farm Share members. We hope you enjoyed last weeks vegetables and are ready for more this week. The past few weeks have been busy for us at the farm. We have now begun all of our harvest activities for the main season with the start of the Farm Share. It is pretty exciting to be harvesting so much food so early in the season. We had some really favorable weather this spring that will allow us to be getting more variety to you all much sooner. We have already had some small tomato harvests, including a few ripe heirlooms.
Along with harvests, we have been doing more transplanting, seeding and weeding. We are already getting ready to start our seeds for fall and winter. It seems a little fast given that summer has not even officially begun. However, it has been hot for some time so the seasons are a bit ahead. We will soon be planting overwintering broccolis and cauliflower, parsnips, Brussels sprouts and heartier greens and cabbage for fall and winter harvests.
Markets have been going really well at both the Beaverton and Oregon City locations. If you have a free Saturday morning they are both great places to get your grocery shopping done for the week while supporting local farms with direct sales. There have been many fruit and berry vendors at each market, with everything from raspberries and blackberries to cherries and even early peaches.
We have had a few new crew additions these pas few weeks, making it so we can get even more done around the farm. Everyone has been hard at work taking care of all the plantings. We spend a lot of time keeping up with the tomatoes, making sure they are properly pruned and trellised to help ripen better fruit. It is really helpful with more hands during harvests, as we have had some pretty big orders lately. Check upcoming posts about where to find our produce on plates around town.
Speaking of plates, on your plates in terms of vegetables this week there will be broccoli or cauliflower, kale, salad mix, red and green mini romaine lettuce, treviso, garlic scapes, summer squash, beets, fennel, and cabbage. The above photo is a fennel bed that will be harvested in a few weeks. Fennel has a wonderful licorice/anise flavor and pairs well with seafood dishes. It is good sauteed in some olive oil, salt and pepper till it is softened and golden then can be used in many dishes including topping pizza or pasta. Fennel and blue cheese on pizza is a great combination. Try adding caramelized fennel to tomato sauce or simply serving as a side with grilled or roasted meat. It would also nicely top a grilled sausage dog with some dijon mustard.
The curled stems with tails are garlic scapes. They will eventually be the flower atop a garlic plant and before they bloom they make all sorts for curls and spirals before straightening out and blooming. The stems and buds can be used anywhere you would use garlic, and make particularly good herb pestos with a slightly more mild flavor and more substantial volume than garlic cloves. They are good in salad dressings or grilled whole and eaten as is if you are a garlic fan.
Treviso is a chicory, an older green that has been bred to keep its bitterness. In the vegetable world, bitter usually means more nutrients. This item is the one that looks a bit like a red lettuce, but the texture is a less crunchy and the white ribbing on the leaves is very apparent. Treviso makes good salads, especially with a tangy dressing like Caesar or something with capers and olives. A treviso Caesar salad with some fresh berries and toasted nuts is a great combination. It can also be used with any other combination of salad greens to tone down the bitterness, cooked with heartier greens and the inner heart makes nice vegetable “chips”. By chips we usually mean some sort of vehicle for dressings, hummus or other dips of choice.
The other items in the box will probably be more familiar, as most were in the shares last week. We look forward to posting more recipes using the produce, but as always, be creative and keep it simple. Produce this good simply does not need too much extra work.
Again we thank you for your support and welcome any comments, especially recipe ideas, that you might have.
-The Simington Gardens Team
